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Adder extinction 2032

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GemmaJF View Drop Down
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    Posted: 05 Mar 2019 at 11:48am
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will View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote will Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Mar 2019 at 1:24pm
Thanks for the link Gemma.  Shame that for large parts of the country the adder will soon be going the same way as those other animals perceived (often wrongly) to represent a threat to Homo sapiens, like wolf, bear and lynx..
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GemmaJF View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GemmaJF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Mar 2019 at 3:18pm
I think also a reflection of a general loss in biodiversity in the wider countryside as well as the persecution. I often talk to people about what they remember from 30-40 years ago. Common frogs were 'common' locally then, now all but gone in this part of Essex thanks to intense arable farming. Not just the loss of maintained ponds but I saw first hand a couple of years ago that the agricultural sprays can be lethal on contact with tadpoles. Despite what we read about the 'testing' done by the companies that sell them which say they are 'safe' to the environment. Talking to entomologists, they speak of vast tracts of open farmland that are strangely practically devoid of insects. We never see much variety of wild flowers locally either. Even road side verges are strimmed to death each year. It's dire but I hope it is not too late and I can only welcome that things we spoke of over a decade ago are now being presented to the mainstream media with supporting data.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote chubsta Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Mar 2019 at 4:28pm
I run a local wildlife group and the response in our village has been great - far more people are now aware of the animals around them and more people are making their gardens wildlife friendly. But when it comes to dealing with things such as developers and councils then it is like they WANT to destroy wildlife.

As an example, we have a bridle path that runs right through the village, it is surrounded by trees and hedges, the pathway itself is rough gravel, the sides are muddy etc. It is a haven for wildlife and acts as a corridor through the centre of the village, foxes, badgers, hedgehogs are all sighted there regularly. There are no access issues with it, in fact a member of our wildlife group is a seriously disabled old boy who likes to go down there in his wheelchair and sit and watch the birds.
We have been notified that the council plan to fully pave it to a width of 9feet, tearing out all the hedges and most of the trees - the reason given is that it will 'improve accessibility' and mean that kids from the primary school won't get their feet dirty when taking a short cut home.
We are fighting it hard, but past experience has shown the council will take no notice of what the villagers want and will do it anyway, destroying not only the environment of the path itself, but reducing biodiversity in the surrounding gardens.

With that sort of attitude, unless something changes very soon then there is no hope left for wildlife in this country - people come up to me when I do my displays at a local farmers Market and say how they used to see so much more wildlife, but now it is all gone. You don't even get moths hitting your windscreens at night any more here in the South East...
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GemmaJF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 05 Mar 2019 at 10:18pm
I've been a keen motorcyclist for years. Once was a thing to have to clean headlamp and visor after a ride in the summer. Now barely ever have to. It's not that the bike design changed either, this is the same model of motorcycle I was riding in the '80s! Seems like a slightly odd sampling method, but it really does go to show there are less bugs in the wider countryside. Most of my riding is around country lanes these days and that would leave the slightly old fashioned square headlight absolutely smothered in squished bugs 30 years ago. Not now though, one or two and that is it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Suzy Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 06 Mar 2019 at 9:19pm
So none of us are surprised really, are we?

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote GemmaJF Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 07 Mar 2019 at 7:39am
Sadly not Suzy. I'm a little bit ruffled that a lot of emphasis has been put on photography disturbance in the press release. Sure it can be an issue with some enthusiasts and some photographers that 'bucket list' adders. I have seen some ridiculous behavior down the years. The truth is this pressure is far more noticeable on sites where the animals have little vegetation cover. We all know that mostly happens due to poor management by nature conservation organisations in the first instance. If photographers are finding it that easy to disturb animals, predators will have no trouble finding them at all. It's all a bit 'told you so' to me and I withdrew from trying to work with conservation organisations years ago. The unpalatable truth is if they can get funding for projects that involve clearing land with plant machinery in the name of 'conservation' they will go right ahead and do it. Whatever we say regarding the impacts on adder. As many here will know I was involved in just such a fiasco with a local site. Of course now EWT are putting the blame on photographers for the adder decline at Backwarden. They are now just using the photography issue as a get out of jail free card, oh it wasn't us, must have been the photographers...

Edited by GemmaJF - 07 Mar 2019 at 8:28am
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